What was it about him? He was brave, courageous, a leader, and dashingly handsome to top it all off. Caleb Danvers really pissed him off, so why was he helping him out? He really didn't have to help him if he didn't want to, he knew Caleb would probably make it through whatever was tossed at him, yet Chase felt compelled to; almost as if he wanted to help Caleb. Chase suddenly thought he was going to grow an ulcer for the mere suggestion that he wanted to help Caleb do anything other than die.

Chase sat in the passenger seat of Caleb's Mustang, tagging along as part of the deal. As long as he was in this plane, he had to stick by Caleb. Caleb had chosen to ignore the fact that Chase was even there, glancing around to see if he could find Sarah on their way to the old settlement structure.

"I forgot to mention," Chase began when Caleb held up a hand to shut him up.

"Please, you don't 'forget' to mention anything, trust me." He said, on the edge of aggravation. Chase rolled his eyes and continued.

"The book of spells." He said. Caleb suddenly let his hand drop, and looked to Chase's shadow. "The books most coveted by the coven were the Book of Damnation, the Book of Light, which hasn't been seen since it burned to ashes, and of course, the Book of Shadows, in which they all wrote down their spells." Chase said, leaning further back into his seat and propping one leg up onto the dashboard. "Of course you already know this; you were raised around it. I, unfortunately, had to go through everything alone. You know I would spend hours researching this stuff when I had my first mishap?"

"Mishap?" Caleb asked. Chase rubbed away a twitch in his thigh and crossed his arms across his stomach, staring blankly out of the windshield at the afternoon sky.

"I had a dog when I was a kid. My adopted parents gave him to me when I was seven." He began, his eyes, though only a vapor illusion of memory, were focused of Caleb's face as he spoke. Caleb avoided eye contact, focusing on the road ahead. "He used to follow me everywhere I went.

"This one time," he laughed as he reminisced, "After my dad… anyway I was running away, it was raining, and I had tied this little sack to the end of my fishing pole, like they did in those old hobo movies… Sam followed me, and I kept yelling at him 'go home Sam! Go home!', but he followed me for another good five miles. Finally I got so tired of smelling wet dog that I turned around and said I wished he was death."

Chase didn't say anything else afterward, and he didn't need to. He gripped the steering wheel and tried to think of some comforting words to say, until he realized what was going on; Chase Collins had somehow tricked him into feeling sympathy for him. Caleb had renewed concentration on the road, reminding himself exactly who Chase was, and no matter what he did to his dog, he was still an evil sonuvabitch.

"I loved that dog…" Chase added. "He was my only friend for years… Mom always took his side, even when she would hear me crying at night." He kept going.

"Took whose side?" Caleb couldn't help but ask. Chase sat up quickly, and changed faces once more.

"You don't have a right to know." He said abruptly and said no more. Caleb shrugged it off and saw the house up ahead. Pogue and Tyler's vehicles were already there, Reid most likely hitched a ride with Tyler as usual, meaning they would all be there. Caleb turned to Chase to find him gone. Maybe Chase had opened up more than he intended to? Caleb had even forgotten the fact the Chase was beginning to tell him something about The Book of Shadows before he asked about his first encounter with his powers. He was glad to be rid of Chase temporarily, but the book was nagging in the back of his mind, and he wanted to know why he had brought it up.

As Caleb made his way down the stone steps, Reid, Tyler, and Pogue all greeted him with a handshake and their usual routine.

"Where've you been, Caleb?" Reid started. Caleb sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Sarah's missing." He said. "Don't worry, she wasn't taken or anything like that," he told them as soon as he saw their reactions. "She just needs to calm down."

"Why? Did you two have a fight?" Tyler asked. Caleb shook his head.

"Not exactly. She thought I told her to shut up, but… okay this is going to sound crazy, but… I was talking to Chase."

"Chase!?" Reid reiterated.

"Caleb that's impossible; he's dead!" Pogue told him.

"I know." Caleb smirked. He rubbed his hair, not knowing exactly how to go on about the explanation. "I'm not crazy, don't worry."

"I'd get a second opinion." Reid remarked, Tyler hitting him on the shoulder.

"It sounds really insane, I've been over it a hundred times, but he's come back from hell, or purgatory, or whatever, to help me." He said, looking at each of their faces. Pogue obviously didn't believe him, probably thinking that Caleb just needed some sleep, and Reid and Tyler were hard to read at that moment.

"Help you with what?" Tyler asked. Caleb was glad that he, at least, was edging him on.

"I'm being put on some sort of trial for breaking the law. I killed someone bound by the covenant." He said.

"But Chase was banned from the coven." Pogue said, trying to reason Caleb out of his theories.

"But he was still bound by it, Pogue," Caleb told him. Pogue dropped his head, sighing, and standing.

"Caleb, go home, and get some rest." Pogue said before heading for the steps. Reid and Tyler sat there, neither one of them doing anything to stop him. Pogue was about to head up the spiral stairwell when suddenly they all saw a pair of legs making their way down them.

"You should listen to your fearless leader." Chase said as he made his way down the cold, candle lit steps. Pogue had taken so many steps back that he had run into Reid. Reid and Tyler stood, and Caleb stood up trying to calm them down, but it was too late. All hell had broken loose and the three of them were sending blasts of energy toward Chase. All of them hit him, and he stood there taking it. The three of them finally stopped when they realized that they were doing no damage to him.

"Please, I'm a ghost! I absorb ethereal energy – it's like you guys buying me lunch." He smirked, and walked the rest of the way down the steps, taking a seat beside Caleb. "But that aside, your friend here is right, his life is at stake."

"So why you?" Reid asked, eyes still black out of anger.

"Why me? Why am I the one they sent to help him? Why not me?" Chase laughed.

"I'm being reprimanded because I killed Chase, and the only way to repent that mistake is to go through with this thing… and hope I survive." Caleb said, leaning against the wall. "And for helping me, Chase will… get another shot at life."

"Wait you mean he's going to be brought back to life!?" Pogue shouted. Chase was enjoying the anger that was welling up from within them.

"Caleb you can't let that happen!"

"I've got no choice. If I don't accept his help, and see this through, I'm damned." He sighed. Pogue went to take a swing at Chase out of blind anger but smashed his fist through him and into the stone wall. Caleb rolled his eyes, and Chase loved it of course.

"Look, you can't hurt him, he can't hurt us… just put everything aside for my sake and work together. Please." He told them all, and even Chase gave a disgusted look to the other three twits, but provoked them no more. Pogue eyed him as he cradled his bloodied fist and they all sat down, Chase taking a seat on the steps. "Thank you."

Suddenly Chase blurred, almost completely smoke, and then returned to form again. Caleb raised his eyes to wonder, and Chase met his own.

"I feel something coming." He warned them, and none of them wasted time running through him, and up the stairs. He stood out of the way, and watched as they disappeared. When they were gone, he fell to his knees and clutched his chest. It was all he could do not to fade away again; he was trying to hold himself together. The onslaught they released on him was agonizing, but he couldn't let them know that. Technically he shouldn't have revealed himself to them, but Caleb needed that little show he put on, and if they knew what damage they could do to him, they would have never stopped. So if he was going to get Caleb through this, he had to take the pain, all of it, and any more that came his way.

Caleb came back down the steps to see why Chase hadn't followed, or 'appeared' outside with the rest of them, when he saw Chase in pain on the ground. He rushed down without caution and went to help him up, but his hands only went through him.

"You really did feel all of that, didn't you?" Caleb said, feeling some compassion for Chase's crippled figure. Chase squinted as he tried to stand up, and smiled.

"You never would've convinced them if I hadn't shown up. Face it, Golden boy, you need me." Chase struggled with his words, but Caleb couldn't help but laugh. He knew Chase was only doing his to accomplish his own ends, but this wasn't a necessary risk, so he had to wonder 'why?' "You can thank me with a game of foosball when I'm human again." He laughed. Whether he was laughing at his comment, or the fact that Caleb's lackeys would rip him limb from limb when he was human again, he wasn't quite sure.

"Caleb!" Pogue called down. "You'd better get up here!" Pogue called down. Caleb looked to Chase who motioned for him to go on ahead. Caleb turned and rushed up the stairs. He reached the foyer of the house, and reached for the front door when Reid came flying through it, splintering it in pieces, knocking Caleb down as he landed on him. Reid quickly scrambled to his feet and helped Caleb up.

Caleb brushed himself off when he saw something crawling through the door. It slumped, and threw itself across the door, on all fours. Its skin was rotten, and decayed, and its figure was human, just distorted. It had no eyes, just a yearning and gaping hole for a mother, filled with random teeth. Its arms and legs were long, and narrow, as it spidered its way across the wooden boards of the floor.

"What the hell is that thing?" Caleb asked, but found his question cut short as it lunged at him. Its arms and legs gripped him tightly like a vice, its strength was unbelievable. It flipped its entire body, and sent him flying up through the ceiling to the second floor. He stood quickly, looking down at the hole in the floor. The creature was gone, and he heard shuffling noises filing up the stairs. He ran out into the hallways to see the thing reach the top on the stairs. Caleb stood at the opposite end of the hall, facing its nonexistent gaze. He held his hands ready to fight the monstrosity off, yet it made no advances.

He raised his hand to throw a wave of power at it, but he was yanked up by his head. Another one had snuck up, and grabbed his legs. He was being pulled in two different directions, and he could hear Reid, Tyler, and Pogue going through their own ordeals outside. The creature at the opposite end of the hall made a lunge for him but was grabbed by its legs. Chase could touch these things, since they weren't among the living. He held on as his tried to jump for Caleb, but it soon wrapped itself around Chase. The two that were attempting to pull Caleb's head off had dropped him, now going after Chase.

The original creature held Chase tightly, now opening its mouth wider and wider until it started to suck Chase's face off. It looked like it was ripping his face off over and over again, and each time, Chase looked like he was losing more and more of his life. Caleb had to think quickly, so he did the only thing he could think of, which was put everything he had into his force. He held his hands together, and focused on it with every ounce of power he had in his body.

The orb, which had started off the size of a baseball, was now the size of a beach ball, and glowed a furious white. He pushed with all of his strength, and unleashed it on the creatures. On contact, they had turned to ashes, fluttering about the hallway.

As the ash settled, Caleb couldn't see Chase anywhere. He had acted so quickly without thinking it through that he hadn't thought of the possibility of vaporizing Chase with them. He was already weakened by his encounter with Reid, Tyler, and Pogue that Caleb full on force might have just been what finished him.

He now felt guilt washing over him. He knew that Chase was his enemy, and through all the terrible things he had done, he couldn't help but feel somewhat sad for the guy. He didn't know why, he knew it was what Chase deserved, but even Chase didn't deserve to be obliterated out of existence. Suddenly Caleb heard Pogue, Tyler, and Reid outside, struggling against the creatures. Even though they had all ascended, he was still the most powerful of the three and it was his trial after all.

He flew through the second floor window and out into the darkness. He looked around, and realized that the entire sky was black, and there was hardly any light, yet it was not later than three in the afternoon.

He had underestimated his enemy count, for as he looked around, there were dozens of these creatures all coming for Caleb. He looked around and had no idea what he could do.

"Caleb!" he heard. He looked around, and saw Pogue, Reid and Tyler all covered by these otherworldly beings, but none of them were looking at him, and the voice wasn't theirs. "On the roof!" he heard, and looked up. Chase stood tall in the storm of black smoldering ash that had darkened the sky, and Caleb was glad to see that he was still alive. Then he remembered what he had told himself before; that no matter what he had done to his stupid dog, he deserved whatever fate he had coming.

"Caleb, you have to trust me! Let them take you!" he called down. Caleb furrowed his brows, and looked at Chase as though he had done crazy.

"Are you insane!?" he shouted. But he was snatched by his ankle, and was being dragged into the oncoming army of these things. He fought to get away, but they were piling on top of him one by one. If Chase hadn't distracted him he wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Caleb! If you can hear me say these words!" Chase shouted as loudly as he could. Caleb could just barely hear him over their slurping and rattling noises, though he was concerned by the fact that they were fighting over who was going to get to eat him first. "Unum Igneous!"

"What?" Caleb shouted back, trying to push a few off of the top of him so that he could hear Chase.

"UNUM IGNEOUS!" he heard. Caleb squinted and they kicked dirt and all matter of things in his eye, but concentrated on the words. He took a deep breath and shouted the words back to the world.

"Unum Igneous!" he shouted. Within seconds he saw flashes all about him. Every one of those creatures that was touching him had caught ablaze, and was burning to nothing more than the ash that surrounded them all. Even better than he could hope for, it seemed the any creature touching the one that had burned to ash had also burned to ash, and so on. And since they were like spiders, they were always crawling over each other in a network of chaos, and they were all burning, shrieking bloody murder but Caleb was smiling in his triumphant victory. Pogue, Tyler, and Reid were looking around, wondering what had suddenly happened to their attackers.

Caleb looked up to the sky and saw the ash dissipating, and the blue sunshine had returned within seconds. He looked up to Chase, who was smiling back down to Caleb. Chase leaned forward and suddenly fell off the roof. Caleb ran toward him in a panic, but saw Chase evaporate into a grey haze of smoke as he usually did. For that split moment Caleb forgot he was dead, because he had acted more human than when he was alive. Pogue had suddenly grabbed Caleb to make sure he was in one piece. Reid and Tyler had a few scratches and bruises, but were all right in the overall picture.

Chase suddenly appeared before Caleb, and the other three all backed away, eyeing his every move with suspicion.

"Congratulations fearless leader, you passed the first task." Chase said, though he was terribly blurred. Caleb figured that was due to how weak he was at the moment. "That little spell was from the Book of Shadows, which I was trying to tell you about."

"So you were trying to prepare me for this? Aw, Chase, you really do care." Caleb said teasingly.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Don't misconstrue my actions, I'm doing this for the sole purpose of getting my life back, so I can get back to work on taking your powers." Chase said, as he finally disappeared once more. Caleb smiled and sat down right on the ground beneath him. He ached after that encounter, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep.

"What the hell was that?" Reid suddenly piped in. Caleb looked up to them wondering what he meant.

"What, you guys are all buddy-buddy now?" Pogue said. Caleb lowered his head, and took in a few deep breaths.

"Look guys, we have to trust him whether we like it or not. He's the only one who can help me with what I'm up against." He told them all. Pogue kicked the ground.

"And we're not!?" he said, and walked away obviously pissed.

"No, wait, Pogue!"

"Let him go Caleb. We know what you mean but you don't have to make us sound worthless." Tyler said, as he and Reid began to follow Pogue. They left Caleb sitting there in his spot in the dingy, ash covered grass to think. He really wanted to know Sarah was alright, she hadn't left his mind once. In fact the will to see her again kept him fighting through all of that darkness. And almost as though he had been granted a wish, She came walking up through the yard from the trail.

"Did you walk all the way out here?" Caleb asked her. She smiled and sat down beside him. She leaned against him, and saw his cuts, and scratches, and rubbed his back.

"So this was the first part?" she asked. He didn't reply, nor did he need to. "So how many of these are you going to have to do?"

"I don't know." He said, looking down to her. He took her hand into his, and interlaced his fingers through hers.

"Why didn't you tell me about Chase?" she asked, the question catching him completely off guard.

"How do you know?"

"I could hear him in the darkness, but I couldn't see him." She said. She remained silent for a moment, and stared at the ground. "The sky was dark everywhere. Kate said that everyone was panicking through the town."

"You talked to Kate?"

"I had to call her to see if she was alright. She'll be out here in a few minutes." She said. Caleb noticed that it was almost as if the emotion in their words were dead. He was mentally exhausted, and she had something deep on her mind. And so they waited in their world, side by side and undisturbed, which was just what Caleb needed. More than anything else in this world. More than she knew.

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A/N: Aye, ye know the routine, mateys - REVIEW, please; tell me what ye think :D